There’s a bit of backstory to the first clip. I called my Dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day, during which he mentioned the “Let It Ride” movie that is centered on horse racing (comedy). We both love that movie, and said we were going to watch it for Father’s Day. So, in the first clip, I’m watching Let It Ride … while Hooey snoozes on the couch (not her brand of humor, I guess). I still LMAO at some of the classic scenes from the movie (e.g. “Nobody move! I have peripheral vision … it’s a gift … I can see me ears …”)
Broody hens …
Garden tilling in the dark (after it cools down) …
All the young ones (rabbits, chickens) are doing well.
We planted 320 veggie / melon seeds in the new soil block mini-greenhouse.
Added a new Springfield Armory M1A chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor to the inventory. Can never have too many M1As.
That young doe seems to be visiting us every day now, and getting progressively closer to the house. I think she likes baiting Hooey into the chase (SCUD-mode).
Hunter was kind enough to share her rotisserie chicken with me.
It is supposed to be oppressively hot & humid for the next few days … so we’re looking for indoor projects to tackle. 😉
Got the soil block tray system (now a mini, standalone greenhouse) completed and deployed into the garden pasture. Got 4 trays of soil blocks ready for seeding.
And, got the new bee hive fed with 8 quarts of bee syrup.
Trimmed the doors for the last set of 3 rabbit cages and poly-stained them.
Baby sat the rabbit litter so Hooey wouldn’t eat them (again!).
Add in the ambient heat and humidity, and you complete the ‘recipe’ for a long-ass-day.
Check out this Live Science video of a microscopic, single-cell bacterium ‘harpooning,’ consuming (eating) and integrating pieces of DNA from its surroundings in order to genetically evolve.
There are SO many mysterious entities, processes and behaviors in nature, both in the microscopic and macroscopic realms.
Who would have ever thought a single-cell organism can exhibit this sort of complex behavior?
We started out with three bee hives about 2 years ago. Last spring, all three of the hives swarmed, one of them twice, and I caught every swarm but one. So, we ended up with seven hives. However, in the fall — and for reasons still unknown — all seven of the hives swarmed out and vacated ALL of the hives! No bees left. It was weird. One of them even left a ton of capped honey in the hive when it left.
So, with that backstory, it is indeed interesting to see a bee colony swarm back onto the property. The swarm yesterday looks to have taken up residence in the workshop, probably in the hive boxes I have stored in the rafters.
But, it looks like the queen didn’t like the location (probably too damn hot!) and they swarmed out again today, creating a “bee ball” up in the same ol’ tree they always seem to swarm into.
Looks like I captured the queen on the first attempt, and there are signs she has decided to stay put in the new hive. Because her swarm is relatively small, I decided to go ahead and capture the subset of bees I missed the first time, and add them to the hive as well.
Lotsa sweat … but no stings, so a very successful swarm capture all the way around. 😉
Our day actually started at about midnight, when a huge thunderstorm passed overhead with a few lightening strikes on the property, one that destroyed our internet router/modem.
Spent some time (0:45 min) standing out on a spot on the property known to have the strongest AT&T wireless signal, chatting online with a Century Link CSR. Finally got a technician scheduled … but not for nearly TWO DAYS (without Web, music, TV, phone, …). Aaaarrghhhh.
Used gun maintenance supplies to clean and fix my Rigid finish stapler. Well worth the time and effort. Now I know how a pneumatic nail gun works on the inside.
Had a swarm of bees take up residence in one of many vacant bee hives I have stored in the workshop rafters. I’m used to my bees swarming OUT of my hives and back into Mother Nature … not the other way around
Sans web access, I had a lot of time to just play with the animals.
As the sun started to set, I worked in the garage designing a 3-tiered platform for the wood soil block seed trays I made the other day.
Something … not sure what … deer (I hope) or coyotes (I fear) were tripping motion sensors along the property perimeter all damn day. More than usual. As we wrapped up our day, they went off again, so Hooey and I took off, me on the KTM 990A and her on foot, to do a quick check around the property. Didn’t find anything. Alas.
A friend introduced me to using soil blocks to germinate and sprout plants in a greenhouse (thanks Greg!)
I borrowed the design concept from YouTuber St. Fiacre’s Farm regarding the building of Elliot Coleman soil blocking trays from plywood, developed a cut plan to create 9 such trays from a single sheet of 4′ x 8′ plywood, and got busy. See cut plan at the end of this post. Basically, rip two (2) 20″ section, then two (2) 3″ sections from the plywood. Then cut the individual bottom, back and side rail pieces according to the plan.
I opted to apply a coat of Minwax Polystain (color: Pecan) to help protect the plywood from our southern humidity.
After a few days left to completely dry and cure … I’ll make some soil blocks and get some seeds planted.
I need to grow SOMETHING to help feed all these chickens, donkeys, ducks and rabbits! 😉
Cut Plan: 9 Soil Blocking Trays from 1 Sheet of Plywood
I was curious to see how the girls would respond to the 4 new nest boxes, so I put a time-lapse camera on them.
They looked at it … and one of them started pulling on some hay hanging out of a nest, but they didn’t “go nuts” on them until I stuffed a neurotic hen from the garden pasture coop into one of the boxes.
Probably should have stopped after getting the 3 new rabbit cages finished and deployed into the rabbitry. But NOOOOO, I had to go ahead and launch into the next project — new chicken nest boxes. Sort of messed up my upper back getting a 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood up on the table saw … but pushed through it to just get-R-done!
For those perhaps interested, I’ve included my Chicken Nest Cut Plan graphic below. You basically take a 4’x8′ piece of plywood (1/2″ or 3/4″) and crosscut two 16.5″ sections, two 13.5″ sections, and a 12″ section. Then cut each section down according to the second dimension shown in the plan.
Tomorrow I have a bunch of errands to run, so looking forward to a “down day’ from the farm projects.
Also, I get my DJI MavicPro drone back from depot maintenance (military term). Cost about $400 to have the camera gimbal replaced, which broke when the drone came crashing about 80′ to the ground when I cut down the tree it was stuck up in.
Had a HUGE bowl of my ever-popular spicy tuna pasta for dinner, and still lost two pounds, so … yeah … a very long (but active and successful) day. 😉
As described in this video, my tractor was exhibiting the following symptoms:
1. Power loss (especially traveling uphill)
2. Transmission laboring (noise, vibration) at idle
3. Rapid RPM drop on deceleration
I discovered the cause this morning. The implement (subsoiler/ripper) on the 3-point hitch was in physical contact with the top loop of the FOPS bar, which I had down in the ‘stowed’ position. Since the hitch couldn’t reach maximum raised height, it was bleeding off hydraulic pressure from the transmission, thus causing the symptoms above.
THANKFULLY I discovered this on my own, before paying a mechanic to troubleshoot it. Whew.
So, if YOU own a hydrostatic (HST) tractor … from any manufacturer, and experience the symptoms of degraded transmission performance (‘power loss’) above, check your front and rear hydraulic systems to make sure they aren’t bleeding hydraulic pressure from the transmission.
